Veggies!

FOR THE RECORD

Fruits

Squash

Tomatoes,

Peas

Beans

Bell Peppers

Corn

Cucumber

Watermelon

Vegetables

Onions

Potatoes, carrots

Beets

Spinach

Collards Sweet Potatoes spinach

Radishes

Friends

Basil, Sunflowers, Marigolds, Cilantro, Parsley

  

A fruit is the fleshy body surrounding the seeds of a plant. It’s actually a ripened plant ovary. A vegetable is the other fleshy or leafy material of a plant, like a leaf or root. You can grow them all in your garden and we call most of them vegetables. You might have some other plant-friends in your garden like culinary herbs or spices, or flowers which are edible or provide some other purpose like repelling certain unwanted insects. Or inviting certain wanted insects.

Winter Vegetable Gardening

Now through March you can plant winter vegetables and plant seeds indoors in small containers to get summer vegetables started.

Winter vegetables, or ‘cold-season’ vegetables prefer cool temperatures, and will not survive into the heat of summer in middle Tennessee. Plant now: collards, kale, turnips, radishes, onions, potatoes, broccoli.

This past 3 weeks I have planted onion sets, beets, and spinach. I may plant some greens (collards and kale) if I have time and space.

Planting much later and it will get too warm for your winter greens and broccoli, which may bolt before they are ready to eat.

Now is the time to be planning your summer vegetable garden, which should be planted after April 15 or May 1.

Summer, or ‘warm-season’ vegetables are not tolerant of freezing temperatures and must be seeded or (‘starts’ set out in the garden) after the last hard frost. Make a plan for these summer vegetables: Tomatoes, bell peppers, hot peppers, corn, squashes and melons, beans and peas, annual herbs such as parsley and basil.

Fertilize at planting time with an all purpose organic fertilizer, or fertilize every couple of weeks with an organic liguid fertilizer like fish emulsion or  compost tea.

Any Minute Now

     The last day or two of sunshine have been so inspiring. Temperatures are going to warm up quickly. I predict daffodils will bloom within 7-10 days, maybe even sooner if they are in full sun. Pansies may or may not recuperate from this brutal winter. I have been itching to get into my vegetable garden but admit that either frozen ground or chilly temperatures have deterred me. Before we know it, we’ll have wonderful work temperatures and more than enough to do in our yards.

February Gardening Projects:

                Ornamentals

                Pruning Liriope (monkey grasses)

                Cutting back winter burn/last year’s leaves on Helleborus

                Pruning cool season ornamental grasses if you can trim back a few inches and see new green growth. Don’t’ prune sedge/Carex and Festuca

                Evaluating tree health and having large tree pruning done

                In the vegetable garden

                If you can work the soil, you can plant onion sets, spinach, collards and kale and turnips, beets, broccoli.

                Do your soil test now to determine pH and any macronutrient needs for lawn/ornamental/vegetables.

               

                And make plans for these fun events: 

Nashville Lawn & Garden Show at the Nashville fairgrounds  Feb 27 - March 2

Urban Gardening Festival, sponsored by DC Master Gardeners May  17 at Ellington Ag Center in Nashville. 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/169295886673/

                

Community: there are many volunteer and learning opportunities at Nashville area gardens, through Hands On Nashville, Davidson County Master Gardeners, and probably in your local schools.

Here comes the sun!

              

Honeydew!

Or, Why Are the Trees Black?
 

I noticed a gooey sticky feeling when I leaned up against my truck yesterday. Depending on your garage and driveway situation...you too may be noticing the black haze on your car (patio furniture, umbrellas, cats, etc).

What is going on? Well, this happens every year in the fall when the aphids are getting extra busy. The aphids excrete.......well, they excrete secretions. Commonly called honey dew. The honeydew falls on everything below their excretory location, and then  black sooty  mold (Capnodium, a type of fungus) grows in the secretions. The black sooty mold (Capnodium) does not itself harm the trees, or your lawn furniture. It may shade the leaves somewhat, inhibiting nutrition slightly, but probably not to a great degree.
Aphids (of which there are many species) live in all kinds of trees and shrubs but are particularly fond of hack berry trees and crape myrtles. I expect the excess of rain and moisture this year has contributed to: more aphids, more greenery, more moist conditions.

There's no need for pesticides, most of this will be washed away with weather. Once again, this is in the category of No Need for Alarm; Just an Annoyance. Take your car to the car wash. Scrub the lawn furniture with a general cleaner. Always use less strong products then go to stronger ammo if you need to.
Thanks as always to the wealth of free information from state Extension Services.

http://baker.ifas.ufl.edu/Horticulture/documents/BlackSootyMoldonLandscapePlants.pdf
https://www.facebook.com/SoilPlantPestCenter

Fall Wildflowers

Fall wildflowers along Little Swan Creek in Lewis County TN. Late September:
Axillary Goldenrod (Solidago caesia, or perhaps S. curtisii), Hearts-a-Bustin (Euonymous americanus),and a Rudbeckia form.

Also seen: Hydrangea arborsecens, various ferns, Asters, Joy-Pye Weed (Eupatoreum fistulosum), and Rhus toxicodendron
All photographs copyright 2013 Mary Boyd.

There's Nothing Like a 'Mater

I have a beautiful memory of childhood trips to Mississippi to visit my father's family. My aunt Zelma and my grandmother would cook enormous rich meals. Aunt Zelma would say, "Get those maters from the winder sill, and wash em and slice em."

Now that middle Tennessee has seen a few weeks of hotter weather, my tomatoes are producing something! The peppers and tomatoes have been slow this summer but now I'm eating cherry tomatoes and basil and peppers everyday.

Tomatoes are a warm weather crop, an annual plant, benefitting from open space (air flow) and lost of sunny warm weather. I rarely buy tomatoes from the grocery store, and  welcome summer tomatoes from my own garden or from neighbors, friends, and local produce stands.

http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/37271/title/Opinion--Restoring-Tomato-Flavor/

This easy article explains quite a bit about store -bought tomatoes and why they just don't taste as good as home-grown.  Like many hybrid species (even animals), when we hybridize to produce desired traits, we often lose other desireable traits, or even create new problems. Mass-produced tomato species now, have been mostly bred for high yield, easy transport, tough skins, and the ability of a crop to come ripe at a similar time. Bred away inadvertently were many of the sugars and carotenoids. Combine this situation with refrigerated transport, and picking green....and we've got those tomatoes we know so well...pretty and plump and...not so tasty.

It's relatively easy to grow  a few tomato plants at home, even with very little space. If you've got six hours of sun or better, try it. Buy your tomato plants from a local plant sale, like Master Gardeners field days, PPSMT sale, or at a store selling local starts.
Here's a pic of today's harvest: a 'Better Boy' and 'Husky' cherry tomatoes. Yum!

Why I Love Summer

Canna lily stem and leaf (canna generalis), butterfly milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa), JoePye weed (Eupatorium fistulosa)

Rain and Watering

If your don't rely on an automatic irrigation system you probably watch the weather closely and are concerned about when to water your landscape plants. There are some various factors to consider, but a simple approach for starters, is to give your flowers and shrubs supplemental water any week that there is less than one inch of natural rainfall.

Today is Wednesday June 5 and we've already had close to half an inch in Nashville this morning. By Thursday afternoon I would estimate at least 1.5 inches (based on NOAA projections). So all things being equal, you might not think about watering again until middle of next week.

Since all things aren't equal, remember that some plants like a little less water, some a little more, some locations in your soil and yard hold moisture longer. Most plants do not like 'wet feet' where the soil stays moist and soggy for days at a time. This can lead to water starvation and fungal diseases. Prevent these problems by watering deeply but infrequently (e.g., not daily!) and by amending your garden soil with natural materials like finely shredded pine bark, known as 'pine fines' or with compost you have made or bought. This helps the soil drain better.
If you have shrubs that have been growing successfully in place for several years, they may only need extra watering in times of drought.
Particurlarly, these shrubs and flowers are very tolerant of dry periods:
Nandina
Yew
Oak Leaf Hydrangea
most native shrubs ( Fothergilla, Itea, Ninebark, native Viburnums, Hearts A Bustin, etc)

Sedums, Coneflowers,Salvas, Columbine, Asters, Joe-Pye Weed, Sunflowers,Bee Balm, Lavendar, Lenten Rose and most understory wildflowers are drought tolerant and can rely only on natural rainfall.